OBITUARY -- Les Malloy

Published 4:00 am, Friday, March 22, 1996

Les Malloy, a popular radio and TV personality in the Bay Area for a half-century, died yesterday at his Atherton home after a long illness. He was 81.

A disc jockey with a folksy, garrulous style, Mr. Malloy was best known in recent years for his "Freeway Funnies," an afternoon commute program of vintage comedy that ran on tiny KEST radio for 20 years.

Born in 1915, the son of a San Francisco policeman, Mr. Malloy's radio career began in 1934 when, at age 16, he started at a San Francisco station called KGTT.

By the 1940s, Mr. Malloy was one of the city's pre-eminent disc jockeys, spinning records on as many as three radio stations a week, including KGO, KYA and KFRC.

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During the 1950s he graduated to television, hosting the "Les Malloy Show" on KGO-TV, a precursor to "The Tonight Show," and other variety programs. He was famous for demanding that cameras focus on his guests instead of himself.

"Les pioneered talk radio -- we're all kind of his children," said Ed Baxter, afternoon news anchor on all-talk KGO-AM.

Mr. Malloy owned radio stations in several cities and is also credited with starting the nation's first Spanish-language broadcasts of major league baseball.

Well known for his philanthropic activities, he was honored as 1995 Man of the Year at Bellarmine College Prep in San Jose. Mr. Malloy is survived by his wife of 50 years, Georgiene, of Atherton; a daughter, Leslie Price of Sacramento; a son, David, of Redwood City; four grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

Funeral services will be private, the family said.

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